In conventional meat processing operations, cuts of meat removed from the rib and loin of a slaughtered animal, including beef, pork and lamb, may be fabricated into various bone-in and boneless meat products. An important step in this fabrication process is the separation of the animals' vertebral column (or “chine”) from these cuts of meat. This separation step (commonly referred to as “chining”) is performed to enable workers to subsequently remove dorsal spinous processes, transverse processes, and ribs to provide meat products.
FIGS. 1a and 1b illustrate perspective views of two meat cuts 10 that include chine bones 12, rib bones 14, a spinal groove 16, and a meat product 18. In FIG. 1a, the meat product 18 is a rib cut of beef. In FIG. 1b, the meat product 18 is a loin cut of beef. Lines 20 and 21 indicate exemplary cut lines along which the chine bones 12 can be separated from the meat product 18. The exact position of the cut line can vary depending on the source animal (e.g., bovine, porcine, poultry, etc.), the size and shape of the meat cut 10, and the desired meat product 18. For certain bone-in meat cuts for example, it may be desirable to establish a cut line that intersects the spinal groove 16, such as shown with line 21.
Traditionally, the chine bones 12 have been separated from the meat product 18 using a manually operated band-saw or similar device. Accordingly, the chining process is difficult, time consuming, labor intensive and potentially presents worker safety challenges. Moreover, the chining process is highly variable due to variations in the type, size, shape and anatomy of the meat cuts (referred to herein as meat cut “characteristics”). These variations present a challenge to preparing consistent meat cuts with the lowest possible yield loss.
Accordingly, there is a need for systems and methods of separating chine bones from meat cuts that overcome one or more of the challenges described above.